Recently there has been an increasing trend towards the incorporation of colored speckles into particulate detergent compositions and other consumer products. Dyes and pigments have been widely used to produce colored speckles that serve aesthetic purposes only. Novel effects such as release of color into the wash water and hueing of fabrics, however, tend to require higher colorant loadings. There is, particularly at these higher colorant loadings, a fabric staining risk associated with dye and pigment use. Thus, the need exists for colored speckles for use in detergent compositions and other consumer products that can serve both an aesthetic purpose and also provide the novel effects of release of color and hueing of fabrics without staining the substrates that come into contact with the colored speckles.
Additionally, the inclusion of colored speckles in granulated laundry detergents presents the problem of bleeding or transferring onto the powdered detergent surrounding the speckle. This results in the base powder becoming colored, which is a highly undesirable effect. Thus, the need exists for colored speckles for use in detergent compositions which do not bleed or transfer to the surrounding base powder.
The problems associated with previous attempts by others to include colored speckles in detergents include (a) fabric staining from the colorant used in the speckles and (b) bleeding and transferring of the colorant to the surrounding detergent powder. Thus, there exists a continual need for colored speckles that provide aesthetic appeal to detergent compositions, visible coloration to wash water, and hueing effects to whiten fabrics without bleeding onto the surrounding detergent granules and without staining the fabrics. The present disclosure addresses and overcomes these problems.
The colored speckles of the present disclosure are ideally suited for providing color to various compositions including, but not limited to granular detergent compositions (such as laundry detergent compositions). The colored speckles may provide non-staining, aesthetically-pleasing features to textile substrates treated therewith. They also resist bleeding or transferring to the surrounding detergent composition. Furthermore, the colored speckles of the present disclosure provide release of color, or other actives, from the salt or salt-containing carrier and provide desirable color to the wash water. For these reasons, and others that will be described herein, the present colored speckles represent a useful advance over the prior art.